Fiji, once called the "Cannibal Islands," will next month confront its dark past when chiefs of a remote village perform a traditional ceremony of apology for killing and eating an English missionary.
The village, now known as Navatusila, is expected to present heaps of whale teeth and mats to descendants of Reverend Thomas Baker, killed in 1867.
"I can understand the interest -- I mean we used to eat each other and that must be interesting in this day and age," current Navosa paramount chief Kuini Vuikaba Speed said. "We are fortunate we now live in an environment free of that practice."
Formerly known as Naqaqadelavatu, the village is located in a remote part of Navosa province. It was the most beautiful part of the interior some 900m above sea level, dotted with ravines and streams.
Baker, an Englishman born in Playden, Sussex, who was sent in to the interior after working in Fiji since 1859, presented a whale's tooth to chief Nawawabalavu on arrival. Presenting a tooth usually guaranteed safe passage and protection from the ferocious hill tribes, known for their merciless killings.
"I wish to do good by the people," the missionary wrote in his last letter to his wife two days before he and his group were surrounded and killed by 30 men. "If I do not go now, I shall never go."
Chief Nawawabalavu told Baker he did not like Christianity and vowed never to change. But he accepted the whale's tooth and agreed to guide the party towards the coast.
Baker's story is told in letters he dispatched before continuing into the hills and a diary, now bound and kept in trust by the Fiji Museum library.
The records show he was optimistic about continuing safely as there was no visible war or antagonistic attitude from villages he was passing through.
"I think much about you and the little ones, especially Alice," Baker wrote to his wife. "I do not fear the natives and we hope to do them good. Kiss the children for me, all of them and tell them to pray for me. If I can accomplish this, I shall be the lion of the day."
He had his first brush with hostile natives while sailing towards Bua, northeast of the main island. Natives, fresh from a tribal war, sailed alongside Baker's canoe hurling abuse.
"I thought Fiji had not yet stained its shores with a missionary blood. Am I to be the first?" he wrote.
His aide Setareki Suileka noticed lights moving toward the village as Baker slept, records say, as a nearby chief sent word that he wanted the missionary dead.
When Baker spotted more people converging towards Naqaqadelavatu, he knew he was in trouble.
"Lads, let us be quick or we shall be killed," he urged his group, according to records passed down from two people who survived the attack.
But they were led outside the village by chief Nawawabalavu and Baker was struck down with a long-handled tomahawk along with seven others.
The bodies were rolled into ravines but later retrieved from a river. Baker's body was placed on top of the pile of cadavers and, according to museum records, it was butchered on a flat rock at the village stream.
One woman however scolded her people for the senseless murders and performed Fijian rites on the three men before they were feasted upon. Later Naqaqadelavatu was demolished by its own people, who believed they were cursed.
The apology next month will not be the first. In 1903, the chief's son spoke with "distress and pain" as he asked the church to forgive the murders organized by his father.
A previous paramount chief of Navosa, Qoro Vuikaba, organized a provincial apology to the Methodist Church during the 150th anniversary celebrations of the arrival of Church nearly 10 years ago.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese